A Swan I Plan to Keep
by nycz
Summary: As a result of a spell and a long night with Regina, Emma finds herself wearing a collar that she can't remove and with side effects that are... unexpected. Somewhat cracky with Dom/sub elements.
1. On Turtlenecks and Fashion Sense

**Chapter 1: On Turtlenecks and Fashion Sense**

"Regina!"

The muffled shouts of one angry sheriff was accompanied by a loud hammering on the front door.

Regina took a slow sip of her coffee, enjoying the feeling of the liquid heat travelling down her throat. She closed her eyes, a small smile playing on her lips. Any other day, Emma banging on her door would have annoyed her immensely, but not this day. She was in a splendid mood, in no small part because of the sheriff herself and the reason to why she was here.

"Regina! Open the hell up!"

Not wanting to upset Emma further, she took another sip and then made her way to the front door which Emma seemed determined to demolish with her bare hands.

"That's quite enough, dear. I heard you the first time," Regina greeted as she opened the door. She cocked her head to the side with a smirk, noting the lack of the usual horrid leather jacket Emma always insisted on wearing. Instead she was wearing a green turtleneck sweater. "I must say, this new look on you is rather fetching."

"Yeah yeah, real funny. Now let me in."

Regina's smirk grew wider.

"I'm _not_ doing this on your doorstep!" She looked close to pouting, her hands shoved deep in her jeans pockets and her brows set in a deep frown.

With a gesture of her hand, inviting the woman inside, Regina stepped aside and closed the door behind them.

"Would you like something to drink, Miss Swan?" she asked with an airy voice, trying her best to supress the growing desire to laugh at her guest's growing pout. "Cider, coffee, maybe something stronger–"

"No, what I want you to do is to fix this. Now."

Regina gave her an innocent look. "Fix what? Seems to me that you already managed to fix your fashion sense; a task I feared even the best in the business would be unable to complete."

"Aren't you a real comedian," she muttered. "And you didn't have a problem with my clothes last night."

"As much as I like seeing those jeans painted onto your skin, they're hardly ideal when it comes to... removal."

Emma huffed, fixing her with a hard stare. "You've had your fun, now talk. I can't go around like this."

"Would you like to explain what 'like this' means, Miss Swan?"

"Really, back to Miss Swan again?" she asked, rolling her eyes. After only getting a friendly, disinterested look in return, Emma relented. "Fine, whatever. I'm just– oh for fuck–" The rest of her no doubt curse-filled sentence was muffled by her sweater as she not too gracefully tore it off, revealing the reason for her bad mood.

Fitted snugly around her neck was a brown leather collar.

"It won't come off. I tried everything short of a laser cutter. Get it off." She crossed her arms, a faint blush creeping up on her cheeks.

"Now why would you want to take it off, dear?" Regina's eyes had grown several shades darker and she was eyeing the woman in front of her with open lust. "I recall several nights that you begged me to put it on you," she added with a predatory grin.

"Look, I– I, uh, like it– I mean no, I don't like it, wearing it," Emma tried, stumbling over her words as her blush grew. "I can't walk around like this outside. I'd look like, like a–"

"A pet?" Regina supplied helpfully.

"Yes!" She blinked. "No!"

"You're not very coherent, dear."

"I'm _not_ coherent at all, because I'm wearing a fucking magical collar!"

"Indeed you are."

"So you're going to help me take it off before everyone starts wondering why I'm wearing turtlenecks and scarves all the time all of a sudden."

"And what makes you so sure I can help?"

"You're going to make me bargain for it? Beg for it?" Emma exclaimed, exasperated. "You're really going to do that now? Of all the–"

Regina interrupted her with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Before you go off ranting about my dubious ethics, it would do you good to pay attention for once." She waited for the sheriff to calm down a bit before continuing. "As much as I like seeing you beg–"

Emma snorted, muttering something most likely less than flattering.

"–I didn't say 'will', I said 'can'. As in, why do you think I would be able to help you, regardless of how much I would like to?"

"I... but–" Emma frowned, confused. "You know all this magic stuff, and I got the spellbook from you. And you did the spell... thing... whatever."

Regina studied her for a moment, her expression unreadable. "The spell-thing-whatever that you found in one of my books. I see. Why don't we continue this in the living room, dear. I believe you will want to sit down for this."

* * *

When Regina returned with the spellbook, Emma had already made herself comfortable on the sofa, or at least as comfortable as she could get, constantly fiddling with the collar circling her neck.

"For future reference, I would prefer if you actually paid attention when it comes to magic," Regina noted, her voice hard, taking a seat next to Emma. "While this is a relatively mundane spell, so to speak, there are plenty of other spells that could have much worse effects should you not take care to read the fine print."

"Spare me the lessons, Regina, just take the damn collar off of me."

Her patience with the disgruntled blonde wearing thin, Regina sighed, steeling her jaw. "I don't believe I can, which you would have known if you had listened to me and read the book."

"What the hell? You cast the spell, just uncast it!"

"I did not, Miss Swan."

Emma blinked. And stared.

"What?"

"I didn't cast the spell. You did." She paused, her lips quirking up into a small smile. "As a matter of fact, in a way I'm impressed. You actually managed to cast a fairly advanced spell, without my help."

The whole room was immediately lit up by the happy look on Emma's face, if only for a few moments. "Wait. I cast the spell?"

"That's what I said."

"But I can barely light a candle! Or even poof myself anywhere," Emma argued.

"Magic is emotion, dear. Unskilled users of magic require strong emotions to do anything, while seasoned users like myself can more easily channel the magic within us with nothing more than our will."

"Well explain to me how I could possibly want a fucking collar around–" She paused, her green eyes widening and darkening as scenes from the previous night came back to her. She swallowed thickly. "Oh. Well. Um." Her blush was coming back with vengence.

"You were very eager last night," Regina mentioned, cocking her eyebrow. "I believe your reasoning was something along the lines of 'yes gods yes I want this please please'–"

"Okay," Emma croaked. "So. How do I reverse it. Please don't tell me I need any of that True Love's kiss bullshit."

"This is a spell, not a curse. I doubt it would do any good."

"Well that's a relief. I'd hate to have to explain any of this to Henry."

Reaching for the spellbook, Regina opened it and quickly flipped to the page in question. "Only the one who cast the spell can undo it, as I'm sure you know."

Emma made a few noncommittal noises, pointedly looking at anything but Regina.

"Why don't you read about it yourself, dear," Regina said, handing over the book with a sickly sweet smile.

"Sure, why not," she muttered, snatching the book from Regina's hands none too gently.

They sat quietly for a while, Emma deep in concentration, reading the spellbook and Regina letting her eyes linger on the sheriff's hunched over form. She did look very good in a collar even while fully dressed, Regina noted with a smirk.

It hadn't been easy to get Emma to wear one the first few times, but eventually she'd relented. As strong and independent she was outside the bedroom, inside it with Regina her submissive side took over almost completely, and both women enjoyed it immensely. Especially last night.

"I'm... not sure I understand," Emma mumbled, confusion written clear across her face. "It says stuff about allegiances and knights and stuff."

"The spell was originally designed to be the ultimate proof of allegiance for knights and nobles back in the Enchanted Forest. They gave, quite literally, their life to their master as a sign of their unyielding loyalty. Often, they would give a sword, an amulet or some kind of family heirloom to be enchanted with their life essence and given to the one they pledged their allegiance to."

"Uhuh."

"The enchantment spell would also place a symbol on the knight, often their master's insignia or symbol of some kind, so that everyone would know their... special status.

"Now, the thing that made this spell and its result special was what happened to the artifact the knights gave to their masters. They had been infused with magic, and then infused with the life essence of the knight, and coded to, I suppose, the knight's master. This meant that as long as the master touched the artifact, the knight would be compelled to do what the master wanted."

Emma frowned. "Like when you rip out someone's heart."

"Exactly." Regina made a face, half smile and half wince. "I never bothered with that spell, seeing how I had... other options. Easier options."

"So, what does that have to do with me? I mean, I didn't give you an artifact or anything. Why can't I just undo it?"

"Because the spell was never designed to be used like you did. The way it was undone was usually by destroying the artifact. I did hear about one time a mage managed to extract the magic from the artifact itself and therefor rendering it inert, but that was mere rumors."

Huffing in frustration, Emma threw herself back against the sofa. "But I don't have an artifact! How the hell am I supposed to undo it then?"

Regina pursed her lips, studying Emma for a few moments. Then she stood, motioning her to follow. "Come along, Miss Swan, I'd like to try something."

Reluctantly, Emma joined her, standing in front of her as instructed. "Okay?"

"Give me your hand."

"Promise you'll give it back?" Emma quipped, trying to lighten the mood.

"Miss Swan–"

"Yeah yeah," she muttered, offering her hand.

Taking Emma's hand in her own, Regina ran a thumb over the top of the hand, enjoying the feeling of her skin and the knowledge of just what those fingers could do to her. Shaking herself out of those delicious thoughts before things would get too awkward, she met Emma's gaze.

"Jump," she said.

And Emma jumped.

"Smile."

Emma smiled.

"Tell me the first time you masturbated to a fantasy about me."

"We'd been fighting – again – and you were just so fucking–"

"Thank you, you can stop."

And with that, Regina let go of Emma's hand and met her bewildered stare with an amused expression.

"What the hell, Regina?" Emma finally managed to sputter out. "What did you just do?"

"Jump."

"No!"

Regina hummed thoughtfully, pursing her lips. Grabbing a hold of Emma's hand again, she took a step forward and purred, "get down on your knees and lick me."

Before she had even finished the sentence, Emma was on her knees, scrambling to push the offending clothing items covering her lover's lower body out of the way.

"That alright, dear, you can stop."

Moments later, Emma was standing again, her face flushed and eyes wider than ever. "W-what did you do to me," she stammered, voice hoarse.

"It's not what I did, Miss Swan, it's what you did. You do seem to have an artifact of sorts after all."

Emma stared at her, eyes wild.

"You know how knights in stories give their swords or lifes to a king or a queen? In this case it would seem to be more than a choice of words," Regina said.

"I don't understand, is it the collar? Is that the artifact?" Her hand shot up to the collar, fiddling with it.

"That would most likely be the symbol, showing your allegiance. To me. A most fitting symbol," she mused. "But no, the difference is how you formulated your spell last night. You didn't say 'I give my life to you' or 'I give my sword to you'. No, you said 'I give _myself_ to you'. You are the artifact."

Emma blinked, the facts slowly sinking in. "That means... if you touch me and tell me to do something, I have to do it," she mumbled, voice distant. "And I c-can't break the artifact, 'cause..."

"Yes," Regina agreed with a small nod.

And Emma fainted.


	2. Just a Little Harmless Fun

**A/N: Just to make things clear, this goes AU after the return from Neverland. Pan and Henry didn't switch bodies and there was no second curse. Thanks for all the reviews, favs and follows, and happy reading :)**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Just a Little Harmless Fun**

Emma awoke slightly disorientated, and it took her a little while to gather her bearings and remember where she was. Apparently Regina's sofa – where currently she was sprawled out on – was surprisingly comfortable.

"Welcome back."

Her eyes fluttered open to the sound of Regina's voice, and just as quickly snapped shut again as she remembered just why she had fainted in the first place.

A spell. A spell that would be difficult if not impossible to remove. A spell that would create a giant shitstorm if her parents ever found out. She groaned, slumping down in defeat.

"Tell me this is all a just a bad dream," she muttered, massaging her forehead while trying very hard not to think about the object around her neck.

"This is just a bad dream."

Emma's eyes shot open. "Really?"

"No." To Regina's credit, she at least tried to hide her smug smirk, albeit not too successfully.

"So," Emma sighed, "what do we do now. I can't go around wearing this in public, and if my parents find out that I'm magicked to do whatever you tell me anytime you touch me..." She shuddered.

"Technically, it's not what I say that you have to follow, it's what I think. I merely said what I wanted you to do to make my point clear." Her smirk grew a little predatory. "At least it won't be too obvious, dear."

Emma tried to laugh but what came out was more like a hoarse cough. "That's great. But seriously, how the hell am I supposed to get this off?"

"You seem in an awful hurry to get rid of it, dear," Regina mused, eyes twinkling. "I thought you liked being collared."

"Damn it, Regina," Emma mumbled, trying and failing to stop her blush. Regina knew her buttons far too well, and collars were one of the big ones. The only reason she hadn't been stuck in her own bed – or Regina's for that matter – the whole morning was that the surprise of not being able to get the collar off for breakfast with her parents outweighed the rapidly growing heat between her legs. "Look, I– you know I do. But just picture my parents finding out about this. You'll get the blame, and then there'll be an angry mob with them up front before you know it."

"I see." Regina's eyes hardened, and Emma could practically feel the temperature in the room dropping several degrees. "Indeed they will. I'm sure they will be happy to accept whatever explanation you'll come up with." Even after a time of relative peace between her and Emma, Regina's mistrust of the Charming's and their daughter still decided to rear its head now and again.

"What? No, no I didn't mean it like that," Emma exclaimed, scooting closer to Regina and taking her hand in her own. "I'd be the first one to tell them it was my spell. Hell, for once I actually even cast the whole spell myself, _without_ any help from you. I'm not trying to blackmail you, Regina. I'm just... we both know they won't believe me. Henry might not even believe me. We need to keep this between us for now. Okay?"

Regina's expression softened from hearing Emma's reassurances. "Okay." She sometimes felt it was eerie just how easily Emma could put her fears to rest, even if she was the one who awoke them in the first place.

Looking relieved, Emma nodded. "Good. Now, you said someone managed to extract the, uh, essence stuff from the artifact? You think we could do that?"

"You surprise me, Miss Swan," Regina said, giving her a look of mock astonishment. "You actually listened to my explanation and remembered parts of it."

She was rewarded with an exaggerated roll of Emma's eyes.

"Now, if you actually listened every time I tried to teach you about magic, that would be truly amazing. Perhaps we wouldn't even be in this situation," she added with a cocked eyebrow. "Or, for that matter, if we actually practised magic during our magic lessons that your parents so graciously allow."

"I suppose," Emma mumbled.

"But that's for another time. Right now we need to look through my library to see if there's anything about this purported magician that was able to disenchant the artifact."

* * *

Books were a menace, Emma decided. After a few hours searching through book after book from Regina's collection, she was bored out of her mind. Regina's old books were fragile and dusty, had more or less illegible text and _no damn search function_. Seriously. She had to talk to Regina about digitizing them. Maybe Belle could help with some fancy tech from the library.

One a more positive note, it did give Emma a rather unique chance to simply sit in peace next to Regina, an opportunity that didn't show itself too often. Their encounters were usually far more... heated. Now, Regina looked so peaceful, so impossibly normal when she sat there next to Emma on the sofa, face set in a tiny frown as she read through book after book. It was hard not to stare.

Or more precisely, it was harder than usual not to stare. Emma's eyes always appeared to have a natural affinity to finding their way back to Regina if she let go and let them do as they pleased. Regina, of course, had quickly noticed it and exploited it to the fullest. One of the more trying things she'd come up with for their so-called magic lessons was surprisingly devious despite its simplicity: Emma wasn't allowed to watch Regina. She had to sit still without anything to do, face and body turned towards Regina without looking at her, not a single stolen glance. For Emma, who'd rather take action than take it slow, this was incredibly frustrating. And arousing.

_And damn, the reward was worth it,_ Emma thought, licking her lips unconsciously, eyes still lingering on the woman next to her.

"Focus, Miss Swan."

Regina hadn't even bothered to look up, of course. She was much to used to sensing Emma's stares to actually have to look up for confirmation.

Emma was just about to form some witty response when he phone went off, piercing the peace and quiet with a shrill tune that made Regina wince.

"Yeah? Oh hey Sn– mom. Yeah, everything is fine. Sorry I bailed on you, I just had some, uh, ideas and stuff for the magic lessons with Regina–"

Emma had to pull the phone away from her ear; even Regina could hear Snow's indignant voice blasting through the speaker.

"Yeah mom, I went to Regina's. I'm still here. I know– yeah... right. Look, you're not going to convince me this time just as you haven't the last times, 'kay? I haven't been turned into a toad or killed or whatever and I don't see that happening. No, I don't."

A barely visible smile tugged on Regina's lips. Even though she'd heard it many times before, the sound of Emma's defense of her still warmed something inside her.

"Yeah... mhm. What? Well, uh, we're... practising, magic and stuff." She shot Regina a quick glance. "Sure I'll come home, later. Oh, that's, I mean, you really don't– just... fine, fine, okay. You can pick me up later if you really want to." She sighed, rolling her eyes. "No mom, we're _still_ sharing him, and it's Regina's week so bring him over when you come. Yeah. Bye."

Regina cocked an eyebrow, her expression turning a little more devious. "Are your parents coming over to rescue you from the dangerous witch?"

"Ugh, yeah. And I can't believe Mom's still arguing about where Henry's living," Emma muttered. "They'll come over with him when he and David returns from their camping trip."

"Lovely."

"And anyway, technically I'm a witch too." She frowned. "Why are you smirking?"

"Oh, nothing." Regina failed miserably at her attempt at looking innocent.

"My parents are coming over and you–" Realization hit her and she narrowed her eyes, pulling up her finger and waggling it at Regina. "No. No no no, absolutely not. You're not using the spell when my parents are here."

"I don't know what you think would happen, dear, they won't even come inside," Regina drawled, her voice distant and airy.

Emma chuckled cynically. "Right. You have the perfect opportunity to mess with Snow and you wouldn't take it."

"Well, when you put it like that; I do like to have a little fun now and then."

"No making me do stuff I wouldn't do!" Emma waved her finger empathetically.

Regina's grin was wide and unrepentant. "I make no promises."

"Regina," Emma whined, dragging out the last vowel.

"I promise I won't let them find out about the spell and I won't show them your collar."

"Why don't I feel reassured by that."

"Don't be such a downer, dear. I'm sure it'll be enjoyable."

"Oh, that's why. You're meeting my parents and you're _happy_."

"Don't worry, dear. I'll be discrete," Regina murmured, before hooking a finger under Emma's collar and yanking her close. "Don't try to pretend that you don't enjoy this almost as much as I do, Miss Swan," she purred, her lips less than an inch from Emma's ear.

"I really thought I'd gotten past 'Miss Swan'," Emma croaked, her breathing shallow. All her focus on the embarrasment of walking outside and her parents finding out rapidly evaporated as the feeling of Regina pulling her collar took over all her conscious thoughts.

"You've forgotten, haven't you? Well, I suppose I should've guessed as much," Regina chuckled, ghosting her lips over Emma's ear and receiving a choked whimper in return. She leaned down, biting hard on Emma's shoulder before pulling back up and turning Emma's flushed face towards her with a grip on her chin.

Emma's eyes were wide and dark from lust, and a part of Regina wanted to drag her up to the bedroom and fuck her until they both were sweaty and panting. But alas, they had more important things to do.

"'Emma' is for when you've been a good girl. 'Miss Swan' is for when you've been bad." She gave Emma a dangerous smile. "And you've definitely been bad, Miss Swan."

Emma swallowed hard. "At least my messed up spell tied me to you, right? Better than, uh, Hook maybe, or Leroy–"

With a swift pull on Emma's collar, Regina mashed their lips together for a deep, scorching kiss that left them both breathless.

"You're _mine_, Miss Swan, no matter what spells you manage to cast," Regina murmured, her dark brown eyes boring into Emma's. "Don't you ever forget that."

Placing a chaste kiss on Emma's flushed lips, Regina then scooted back to her previous place among her books and gave Emma a pointed look. "Don't pout, dear, we'll have plenty of time for that later. _After_ we figure out how to reverse your spell."

* * *

The rest of the day passed by far too quickly for both Emma and Regina. They ate a quick lunch and dinner, not wanting to waste any more time. Still, nothing particularly useful had come up by the time knocks were heard on the front door.

Emma groaned, putting her sweater back on and making sure there was no chance of anyone seeing her collar. She was stiff, tired and frustrated and was in no mood to get lectured about her spending time with Regina.

"Fine, let's get this over with," she muttered, heading for the door.

"Before you go, dear," Regina smiled just before she opened, handing Emma one of her infamous, dark red apples.

Emma frowned, looking from the apple to Regina and back.

"Just something for the road." The mischievous glint in Regina's eyes did nothing to calm Emma's nerves.

Wasting no time, Regina opened the door and was greeted by one tired but smiling Henry and two uncomfortable looking grandparents.

"Hey Mom!" Henry exclaimed, throwing himself at Regina for a quick hug. After Neverland he agreed to living with both his mothers, switching homes every week, and seeing how Regina genuinely worked to redeem herself, he gradually warmed up to her to the point of Regina sometimes forgetting that he still actually knew about her dark past.

Needless to say, Snow and David wasn't happy with any part of that arrangement, and made sure to point it out to all involved (and many who weren't) on a regular basis.

"Hello dear," Regina murmured, loving her and her son's thawing relationship. "Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah, it was great!" He tried to stifle a yawn, but was clearly excited nonetheless.

"Wonderful. You can tell me all about it after I've seen Miss Swan off," she said with a warm smile. "Now go get ready for bed, it's late and you've got school tomorrow."

"Okay. Bye Ma," he said, giving Emma a quick hug as well before making his way inside. "G'night Grams and Gramps."

Snow and David said their goodnights to Henry before turning back to Emma and Regina.

"Hello Regina," Snow said, at least attempting to be polite.

"Welcome dear. How nice of you to drive all the way here to pick Emma up. She must quite tired after today," she said, giving Snow one of her patented fake politician smiles.

Emma furrowed her brows in confusion, wondering what Regina meant. They'd just read books all day. Sure, she was a little tired from sitting still but that was nothing some fresh air wouldn't fix.

And why was Regina suddenly all touchy-feely, nudging Emma's hand with her own? She didn't usually touch Emma like that outside the bedroom, _especially_ not in front of her parents. Wait, touch?

_Oh, right. Shit,_ Emma thought as a strange, warm presence filled her mind. All warring thoughts were removed in favor of doing what the presence wanted her to do. So easy, so simple.

"Why, what did you do?" Snow asked sharply, still polite enough to omit the "to her". David crossed his arms beside her, preparing for another confrontation.

"Relax Mom, it's fine. We did some magic and worked in the garden," Emma reassured them.

David gave his daughter a curious look. "_You_ were gardening?"

"Hey, not everything I do with plants involves a chainsaw! In fact, I'm trying to fix her tree," she added casually.

"You what?" Snow exclaimed, her eyes widening as she spotted the apple in Emma's hand.

"It's a nice tree," Emma shrugged, taking a large bite out of the apple. "Her fwuit tashtesh really good, ya know."

David's eyes were practically outside his head by now, and Snow looked like she was going to pass out at any moment. _Perhaps fainting runs in the family,_ Regina mused.

"What?" Snow almost shrieked.

"I shaid," Emma swallowed, "I said the fruits are really tasty. The apples." Emma stared blankly at her parents, taking another bite of the blood red apple.

"Well," Regina smoothly interjected, "after this lovely conversation I'm sure we're all tired, and I have a son to put to bed." It was growing more and more difficult for her not to laugh openly at the two idiots' dumbfounded expressions, and she really didn't want to spoil the moment. "Good night and safe journey home," she added with a – surprisingly enough – genuine smile for the Charmings.

"Y-yes, of course," Snow stuttered, still staring at her daughter with open horror. "We'll be going then." She turned on her heel and she and David quickly made their way back to the car.

Stepping away from Regina to follow her parents, Emma's mind was once again her own, devoid of that invading presence. She stopped mid-bite, unsure of what to do, or if she'd survive the trip home if she kept the apple. Oh well, the damage was most likely already done.

"And it really _is_ a tasty apple," she mumbled, nodding to herself absentmindedly.

"Did you say something, honey?" Snow asked with an entirely unbelievable smile plastered on her face.

_Shit._

"Oh, nothing. Just... nothing," Emma mumbled, her expression darkening by the second. This was going to be a long ride home.

The last thing Regina saw before heading back inside was Emma turning around and mouthing _I'm going to kill you_ with a spiteful scowl. It took all of her self control not to break down in laughter right there and then.

It wasn't until Regina'd firmly closed the door that she completely lost it, laughing more and louder than she'd done in a very long time.


	3. What a Wonderful Day

**A/N: This got a little longer than I'd expected. Still haven't figured out how long I want to try to keep the chapters, but I guess most will end up around 3-4k or so. Thanks for all the feedback, happy reading!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: What a Wonderful Day**

The split second before lightning hits you. Standing inside the eye of a tropical cyclone. Watching an incoming tsunami as it's about to slam into you. Seconds left on a timed nuclear bomb, lying a few feet away.

Emma's attempts at comparing the atmosphere in the car with various kinds of horrible disasters to distract her did sadly nothing to calm her nerves. At best, the ride home would be uncomfortable, at worst... Emma really didn't want to think about that.

"So," Snow began, her voice so insincerely chipper and carefree that Emma wondered just how painful throwing herself out of a moving car would be. More than the impending conversation? Doubtful. "You and Regina looked like you were... getting along."

"Yup. We uh, we're doing it for Henry." Maybe she could try to faint again? Then Snow would be too busy fussing over her health to care about Regina. Although, the more likely result would be that they blamed the fainting on Regina and turned back to deal with her once and for all. Bad idea.

"Of course, that's great. Henry must be very happy." Snow managed to sound happy and in immense pain at the same time. "His parents not fighting, I mean. Say, have you talked to Neal recently?"

Emma groaned internally. Every fucking time. "Yeah, he and Henry was out doing something. Manly bonding or whatever. I didn't really listen; Regina took care of the details."

"I'm sure he would've loved if you'd joined them," Snow said, turning around with that irritatingly angelic smile she used when talking about True Love, David or Emma's love life.

"Sure, but I've got no interest in him," she shrugged. "He's in my life 'cause this is a tiny town and Henry wants to know him. So I'm being civil."

Snow's smile faltered and she turned back with quiet huff. "You sure looked more than 'civil' with Regina back there."

"We get along," Emma said noncommitally, wondering just how much her parents had figured out about her relationship with Regina. Sure, she was over there a lot, but that was – at least as far as everyone else knew – only for magic practise. And the occasional family dinner with Henry.

_Family dinner. Right. That might be a little suspicious if we're supposed to be an angry glance away from tearing each other apart._

Snow cleared her throat, exchanging a serious look with David, before turning back around towards Emma. "Emma, sweety, when we allowed you to practise magic with Regina, we didn't think it would lead to, ah, something like this." Her face was filled with concern. "I know you think you're being discrete, but we're your parents. We know these things." David nodded his assent, not taking his eyes from the road.

"I–" Emma started, a sense of dread creeping up her spine.

"We know about your relationship with Regina, Emma, and we're worried."

_They know. Shit, shit shit shit._ Of all the things she didn't want to talk about in a cramped car with her parents, this was right up on the top. _How much do they know? And how the hell do I explain to my parents that I like to be–_

"I know you're smart and not our baby girl anymore," Snow said with a watery smile, "but you don't know her like we do. Being friends with the Evil Queen only leads to darkness and danger, and we–"

_Wait, what. Friends?_

"You think we're friends?" Emma blurted out, not sure if she should be happy that it was all they know or frightened by the huge clusterfuck she was going to be in when her parents found out exactly how good of friends she and Regina were.

"It's really obvious, even though we know you try to hide it," David spoke up from the driver's seat. "Especially today."

At the mention of the interaction with Regina when they came to pick up Emma, Snow looked like she was going to be sick, but thankfully she didn't mention Emma's apple.

"I– _we_ think you should stop the lessons with Regina." Snow declared. "We'll speak with Mother Superior first thing in the morning, and–"

"No."

"But Emma–"

Rolling her eyes, Emma crossed her arms. "I said no. I'm not going to cut off all contact with Regina just because we're finally able to be in the same room without killing each other. I mean, most people would consider that a _good_ thing. Especially for Henry," she added, knowing he was the best way to win an argument with her parents.

"Of course, but you have to understand that she–"

"–haven't hurt or threatened me since Neverland. Besides, Mother Superior uses fairy magic, and technically I'm a witch, so it makes sense to have Regina teach me."

"But–"

"Look, this discussion is over. I'm not breaking up– uh, ending my friendship with Regina and I'm not stopping the lessons. You know as well as I that it's best for Henry if we're on good terms and if I can control my powers." She made a mental note to thank her son some day for all the ways she had been able to use him to justify hanging out with Regina.

Snow huffed, her mouth a thin line, but didn't press the issue.

* * *

Breakfast the next day was tense, to say the least. It was almost a good thing in a way, Emma figured, since that meant that none of her parent's would be interested in her choice of clothes. More precisely, they wouldn't ask why she was still wearing the same turtleneck from yesterday. She thought David gave her an odd look now and again when they ate, but he kept quiet just like Snow.

The sheriff's station was just as quiet but magnitudes more peaceful. With David out on patrol, the only thing that could bother her was the looming pile of unfinished paperwork and of course leather band around her neck. It was amazing just how much such a small item could tug at her attention, as she breathed and stretched and swallowed and existed. Her free hand was always fiddling with it as best it could with the turtleneck still on. The only reason she hadn't torn it off the first thing she did – it wasn't like she needed it to keep warm, if anything she was too warm – was because of the risk of someone coming in unannounced and seeing it. That risk outweighed every discomfort she could think of.

Lunch time finally arrived after hours and hours of slow paperwork and endless boredom. Just as Emma was on her way out the door, her phone pinged with a text from Regina:

**Would you like to join me for lunch in my office? I just got swamped in paperwork.**

**Sounds like the last few hours for me. You want the usual from Grannys?**

**That'd be wonderful. Thank you.**

Emma smiled wistfully at their short exchange. Just looking at their text conversation, one could almost think that Regina was a somewhat boring, regular small town mayor. Such a ridiculous thought.

* * *

Everyone was watching her. Emma knew it. She could _feel_ it. A part of her wanted to run – no, more like hide, preferrably with Regina – but she knew it wasn't a viable option. She sighed. Sometimes she really loathed living in small town where everyone knew everything and in particular knew that she almost never wore turtletops, and certainly not in these temperatures.

Bracing herself with her best Regina-inspired _I'm-a-badass-so-don't-even-think-about-approaching-me_ look, she entered Granny's and sat down at the most remote table. With a little luck, Ruby would be busy with other customers and wouldn't have time to pry (or sniff).

Not surprisingly, her luck was still painfully missing.

"Hey Emma, what can I get you," Ruby greeted her, sunny as always. Then, as soon as she'd spoken, her eyes flitted over to Emma's torso, then neck, and her grin grew a smidge more toothy, more predatory.

"Grilled cheese and a coffee," Emma grunted, her own mood dropping already. "And Regina's usual salad." If Ruby got wind of this, Emma would be in big trouble.

Ruby's response came a split second too late, her grin still wide and knowing. "Coming riiiight up," she sing-songed.

Waiting on her food, Emma had to physically restrain her hands to stop them from fiddling with the collar. They came as high as her collarbones a few times, but she managed to make it fairly convincing that she simply needed to scratch her nose. Or her ear. Or her chin.

"There you go." Ruby, out of nowhere, put down a plate in front of her and plopped down on the seat opposite her. "Have you got rashes?"

"What?" Emma frowned. "Oh, that? I, uh, no, I just–"

"You were scratching your face a lot," Ruby mentioned with a shrug, "but anyway. How's it going? We haven't talked in a while."

"It's fine," she responded warily, unsure of what to make of Ruby's toothy grin she seemed incapable of wiping off. "Henry's fine, Regina and I get along and I'm, you know, sheriffing and stuff. Not much going on."

"You and Regina not trying to piss each other off, huh?" She leaned closer, whispering conspiratorically, "some of us actually had a betting pool going on how long your 'truce' would hold."

"How's that working out for you," Emma muttered, trying far too hard to focus on injesting her food as quickly as possibly without having to visit the hospital to bother caring about the gambling or her being the target of it.

"A lot of people lost money the first few months," Ruby's grin grew, "but I'm still in the game. I had a feeling that you two would work something out."

Emma looked up at her, an eyebrow cocked, but Ruby didn't elaborate so she turned back to her grilled cheese.

"Let me take get for you," Ruby said when Emma had finished, managing to bump the plate she grabbed into Emma's coffee cup, the remaining coffee spilling all over Emma's upper body.

"Crap crap crap, I'm so sorry," Ruby mumbled, putting the plate down and wiping off the worst of the coffee with some paper napkins. "I'm really sorry, you okay?"

"I uh, yeah, it wasn't too hot or anything. Don't think it even went through my shirt," Emma muttered, drying herself off as best she could.

"Oh, okay. Good." Grabbing her hand, Ruby practically started dragging her off towards the back of the diner. "Come on, I'm sure I've got a spare shirt somewhere in the back."

"You really don't have to," Emma tried, in no mood of taking her shirt off in front of a werewolf that was far too nosy for her own good. "I'll be fine–"

"Seriously Emma, you can't go around like that," she chided with a friendly smirk, making a gesture at Emma's torso. The brown liquid was extremely obvious to anyone who even shot a passing glance at her, and it was in the middle of the day and she had to get to Regina's office. _Shit._

"We have other customer's, you know," Granny muttered when Ruby swooped past, Emma close behind.

"Yeah, I'll be right out, Granny," came Ruby's response as she pulled Emma in with her out of sight from the rest of the diner.

"So... thanks Rubes, I'll just... take this off then, so you can get back to work now." Emma made no move to touch her shirt.

"Any second now would be great, Em," Ruby responded, her grin back to full predator-mode, wide and toothy and losing all pretense of innocense.

"I _can_ take off my shirt without your supervision," Emma said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh? Don't want to take it off in my presence, huh? You're prude all of a sudden?" she teased. "Or are you hiding something?"

Emma could feel the heat rising in her cheeks, swallowing hard as uninvited thoughts of Regina and a certain neck accessory came flashed in her mind.

"You are!" Ruby gasped, giggling loudly, "you totally are. Should've figured the Queen would mark her territory."

"I thought that was more your thing," Emma said through clenched teeth, but Ruby remained unfazed. She frowned. "And how the hell do you know– I mean, I– why do you think–"

"You're not _that_ subtle. And you two practically reek of each other when you come to the diner." At Emma's confused expression, she cocked her head to the side and tapped her nose. "Werewolf, remember? Now, get that thing off and I'll find you something else to wear."

"Not when you're here," Emma insisted.

"You take off your shirt, and I'll get you something to wear. That's the deal," Ruby grinned.

"You sound like Mr. Gold," Emma muttered. "But fine. On one condition." She fixed Ruby's eyes with her own, channeling every ounce of Regina's murderous gazes as she could. "You don't speak of this to _anyone_. Got it? Not Granny, Snow, friendly woodland creatures, no one. Or you'll get two pissed off witches on your ass."

"Deal. Not breathing a word of this to anyone."

Still hesitating, Emma fiddled with the hem of her shirt, trying to ignore Ruby's lecherous expression. Finally, she gave up debating it and just tore the shirt off, tossing it aside.

Ruby blinked. Everything was quiet for what felt like an eternity to Emma.

And then Ruby started giggling. And giggling a _lot_.

"I'm– I'm not," Ruby managed to get out before bending double in another giggle fit. "It's– oh god," she gasped between laughs.

"Really, Rubes?"

Ruby was still giggling. Or laughing. It wasn't entirely clear.

"It's not that funny," Emma deadpanned.

"I'm just, it's– your look is _priceless_," Ruby squealed between giggles, wiping away a few tears from her laughter. "Oh man," she sighed, still chuckling. "I... wow. I'm not judging you or anything, you just looked _hilarious_. The blush, and– and the collar and _damn_, your _face_."

"I'm glad someone's having fun."

"She actually got you collared!" Ruby wispered, trying to keep down the laughter that kept bubbling up. "I wouldn't have expected that from you. And to get you to wear it outside... She's really got you whipped, huh?"

Emma groaned, torn between a splitting headache and hysterically laughing at the sheer insanity of the situation. "Just get me something to cover it with."

"Oh, right, got to bring lunch to the missus, eh?" she nodded with a wink. "I'll get a scarf – be right back!"

Just as Ruby returned, the door flew up and a less than pleased Granny popped her head in. "Ruby!" Emma had just enough time to snatch the scarf from Ruby and hide the collar before Granny saw her.

"Oh please. A few bites on the neck is nothing I haven't seen before," Granny huffed with dismissive hand gesture and shot a pointed look at Ruby who, to her credit, did sport a faint blush. "Now you get your butt out here right away, there are customers here."

"Be there in a minute Granny!" Ruby flashed a smile, nodding at Emma. "Just had to take care of a little clothing emergency."

Granny shook her head, scoffing. "Poke around in others' business on your free hours, not when you're working. Besides, what Emma and Regina are doing is none of our business, and I'd like to keep it that way." With a last disgruntled look at both women, she left.

"She knows about it too?" Emma groaned.

"About you two lovebirds?" Ruby chuckled. "Well duh, her senses of smell is almost as good as mine."

"Werewolves," Emma muttered disdainfully, making sure her scarf was secure and showed no hint of the collar underneath.

"Don't worry, she won't tell anyone," Ruby reassured her. "In fact, she stopped me several times from asking you about it."

"'Asking'. Yeah right," Emma snorted. "More like 'relentlessly teasing'."

Ruby simply shrugged, as carefree as ever. "Not my fault you're so fun to tease."

"And remember, not a word." Emma hissed as she went back out to the diner, waving a threatening finger in Ruby's face. "Not a single word."

"Have fun," Ruby grinned when Emma opened the door to leave, her wink and salacious smile leaving no doubts on what she meant.

* * *

If Emma felt exposed when wearing the turtleneck, it was nothing compared to the nakedness of covering her collar with a scarf. To be fair, it was a nice looking scarf, but that didn't change the fact that it was an even more glaring example of a change in clothing choice on her part, which all the town's gossipy busybodies were sure to notice.

As she walked over to the mayoral office, she promised herself to never use magic again. Or possibly, actually _learn_ magic from Regina instead of having sex during most purported lessons, whichever option had the lowest risk of ever putting her in this kind of situation again.

"The mayor's waiting for you, head right in." Regina's secretary nodded towards the door, barely shooting her a glance, before turning her attention back to her work. Being the sheriff – and on good terms with Regina – she wasn't a particularly unexpected guest in the mayor's office.

"Miss Swan," Regina greeted, a faint smile tugging on her lips. "You managed to find your way over here even later than I usually expect."

"Had a little incident at the diner," Emma grumbled, putting down the bag with Reginas lunch on her desk.

"You're not eating?" Regina asked, noting the lack of another bag.

"Nah, I ate at the diner."

Sighing softly, Regina took a bite of her sallad. "You don't have to sneak around me if you want to have lunch with your mother, dear."

"What? No, I didn't have lunch with her." Emma rubbed the back of her neck, "I'm just... you'd give me that look 'cause I'm not eating a healthy salad like you. So I figured I'd eat my greasy deliciousness over there and then bring your lunch to you."

Regina rolled her eyes. "You certainly don't need to sneak around me just to be able to eat in peace. Besides, I thought you would be used to my reproachful expressions." Her lips quirked up in a smirk. "After all, you're on the receiving end of them quite often."

"Yeah, I know," Emma shrugged. "I'll bring over my own lunch next time, if you want. But really, it's no big deal for me. I like watching you eat." She blinked, brows furrowed. "That sounded weirder than it did in my head. Just, uh, forget that, okay? I had a run-in with Ruby at the diner. That's why I'm wearing this," she said, brushing her hand on the scarf around her neck.

"I see," Regina said, clearly amused. "I was just about to ask you about it."

Emma plopped down in the chair in front of the desk with a loud, disgruntled noise. "She spilled coffee on my shirt. Pretty sure she did it on purpose," she muttered. "And then she pulled me over to the back of the diner and made me take the shirt off. So she knows about the," she gestured vaguely at her neck, "accessory. Not about the spell though. And apparently, she and Granny already knew about us."

"The only surprise to me is that the whole town doesn't know about it already," Regina sniffed. "Those two werewolves aren't especially known for their aversion to spreading rumors."

"Apparently Granny didn't want to get involved and had Ruby keep it on the down low," Emma shrugged, letting silence take over for a while as Regina ate her salad.

"Snow knows about us as well," Emma noted nonchalantly, toying with some papers on the desk. "Shit, are you okay?" she added when Regina started coughing and wheezing.

"I'm fine," Regina croaked, between coughs. "You surprised me. She knows?"

Flashing an unrepentant smile, Emma nodded. "Yup. She and David told me on our incredibly awkward ride home yesterday. They know we're – wait for it – _friends_. And Snow is very concerned."

Regina stared at her, blinking in confusion. "Friends?" When Emma mutely nodded, she shook her head. "Next time you might want to start with that, dear. I'd rather not to die from choking on lettuce."

"I'll keep that in mind. Anyway, I told them not to worry – take a guess at how well that went – and that I definitely wouldn't take up magic lessons with Blue. Speaking of which, have you found out anything new on the spell?"

"Not yet. I do have other things to do besides fixing your little problem, you know." Her smirk was insufferably smug. Emma wasn't sure if she wanted to wipe it off with a punch or her lips.

Emma snorted, getting up from the chair. "Not like anyone really cares about all this paperwork. The only thing the council gives a damn about is if you're trying to blow up the town or kill someone."

"If we don't want your parents' monarchy to start sounding like a good idea, doing things according to the rules is the way to do it, Sheriff. That includes _your_ station's paperwork."

"Yeah yeah," Emma muttered. "I'll get David on it if he isn't busy rescuing kittens from trees or whatever."

Regina gave her a disapproving look, but Emma interrupted her before she had time to respond with a sassy remark.

"Look, I know you've got stuff to do, but isn't there anything I can do to, you know, speed things up?" She moved over to sit on the desk just next to Regina. "Anything?" Her legs was slowly moving against Regina's, jeans touching silk stockings.

When Regina didn't respond, Emma licked her lips. Feeling a little bolder than usual, she scooted over onto Regina's chair, straddling her.

"You're sure there's nothing I could do for you?" she mumbled, her voice low and suggestive and her eyes darting between brown eyes, plump lips and the rest of her gorgeous body.

"Anything, you say," Regina hummed, slipping a finger under Emma's chin and guiding it down to her, tantalizingly close to her own lips. She could see just how aroused Emma was; her pupils wide and dark, her breathing shallow and her lips dry despite the tongue that constantly darted out to lick them.

"Anything," Emma repeated almost inaudibly, her hands running up and down Reginas arms, caressing them gently. "Anything you want."

"I think I know the perfect thing," Regina purred, pulling their lips close enough that they were almost touching, before tilting her head sideways, her lips stopping an inch away from Emma's ear. "I need you..."

Emma moaned softly as Regina's free hand possesively roamed up Emma's thighs, while the other drew meaningless patterns over her collarbones.

"...to finish your paperwork."

The hands withdrew and Regina the Mayor was sitting under Emma now, instead of Regina the Exceptionally Talented Seductress who'd been present seconds earlier.

"Are you serious?" Emma half-growled, her arousal painfully high.

"You said 'anything', dear," Regina responded, a superior smirk tugging on her lips.

They sat still for a few seconds, before Emma, high on arousal and irritation, decided to take matters into her own hands and crashed their lips together in a demanding, messy kiss. When they broke apart, Emma's lips traveled down Regina's throat, over her jawline, back to her delicious lips and over any skin she could reach, accompanied by moans and needy little sounds Regina would deny ever came out of her own mouth. Apparently Emma wasn't the only one a little sexually on edge.

Their kisses slowly turned less frantic and demanding, as some of Emma's frustration melted away. Finally, they broke apart, resting their foreheads together.

"Feeling better now, dear?" Regina murmured, her voice surprisingly caring as she tucked a blond errant lock behind Emma's ear. She'd noticed just how much of a bad mood Emma had been in when she'd arrived, but it was so hard not to tease her when she gave Regina these perfect opportunities. Still, she hoped Emma was at least in a slightly better mood now. And she really did need that paperwork.

Emma grunted something akin to a "yes", and placed a final kiss on Regina's lips. "And I'll do the damn paperwork," she muttered, "but you better keep your end of the bargain and figure something out. I don't care what it takes." With those words, she untangled herself from Regina and stood up on shaky legs, wiping off any possible lipstick on the back of her hand and trying to make herself look like she hadn't just had a heated make out session with the mayor. "See ya."

Regina sighed as the door closed and she was alone again. Finishing the remainso of her salad, she found it increasingly difficult to focus on anything but a certain blonde sheriff and her exceptionally talented tongue.


	4. The Shopping List

**A/N: I'm terribly sorry for the long wait! I'm in the middle of Camp NaNoWriMo which have meant that I've had much less time to write this. I don't expect another update before May, but then I should be able to update more often again.**

**In any case, thanks as always to everyone who's read and/or reviewed. Happy reading!**

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Shopping List**

"You're leaving already?" David asked when Emma was collecting her things a few hours after her little meeting with the Mayor.

"It's a monday evening, David, nothing's going to happen."

"So... see you back home later?" Emma cringed internally at that hopeful tone.

"Yeah, sure," she muttered, dumping a bunch of papers in her bag. Damn paperwork. "Later."

"You're going to Regina, aren't you?" He tried to keep his voice calm and uninterested, but his words alone told Emma that he was quite the opposite. "Look, Emma, I'm not sure what you think–"

"You think armageddon is coming because I'm not rallying up a mob to burn the Evil Queen at the stake, right?" She regretted the words as soon as she'd said them. "Sorry," she mumbled. "Long day."

"I think... your mother and I don't exactly see your relationship the same way. Her history with Regina is much worse than mine," he said diplomatically.

"Sure didn't sound like that back in the car," Emma shot back, crossing her arms.

David winced. "Maybe not. Probably not. But I'm not– I just want what's best for you and Henry. I know nothing we'll say will stop you from seeing her – you're far too like your mother in that way – I just hope you know what you're doing. It wasn't that long ago that you two would have blown up the town if that had been a sure way to get rid of the other. Not literally though," he quickly added, not wanting to allude to his daughter being a potential massmurderer. Or murderer at all for that matter. The metaphore got a little out of hand.

"I know," Emma sighed, dropping her defensive posture. "I wish you could see that she's changed, I really do."

"I'm trying, and I'm not going to bug you about seeing her. Can't promise anything about your mother though," he added with an apologetic smile.

"Yeah, thanks Dad," she said, returning his smile. "Well, I'm off. Don't wait up, I'm having dinner at Regina's." At least she hoped she was. She hadn't talked about it with Regina, but she'd much rather be around an annoyed Regina than an annoyed Snow right now.

As soon as she'd left the Sheriff's office, she practically threw her phone up, typing a message.

**Hey can I hide with you tonight?**

Damn, not _tonight_. Damned freudian slips.

**Sry I meant this evening. Gotta be home b4 night. Pls?**

The response came quickly.

**Your spelling is atrocious.**

Emma frowned, the corners of her lips quirking up involuntarily. Always the sassy responses.

**But to answer your question, yes. I think you'd want to be here for this.**

Looking at her phone, Emma wondered just what "this" was. A solution to the spell? One could always hope.

* * *

"Hey," Emma said when the door on 108 Mifflin Street opened, revealing the Mayor wearing an odd expression.

"You actually arrived fairly quickly, Sheriff. I'm surprised," Regina quipped, stepping aside to let Emma in.

"And I probably broke half the speed limits in the process," Emma muttered, taking off her jacket and fiddling with the scarf.

"I don't think–" Regina begun, just as another woman joined them from the living room.

"Oh, hello Emma," Belle greeted her with a friendly smile, "I haven't seen you in a while."

Emma's hands flew so fast from the scarf that they almost ripped it off in the process. "Yeah, hey. Been a while, yup," Emma nodded fidgeting nervously. She'd hoped for some time alone with Regina, but apparently that was not on the menu.

"I invited Belle here after she graciously agreed to help us with removing the spell," Regina explained.

"You told her about it?" Emma exclaimed, not sounding to happy about it.

Pressing her lips together in a thin line, Regina crossed her arms. "Would you rather want me to seek help from the Blue Fairy? Maybe Mr. Gold would like to assist? Perhaps we could bring in Jefferson and the whole convent while we're at it?"

Emma winced. "Sorry. Yeah, no, I'm... it's been a long day. Keeping Blue and Mr. Gold out of this would be great. Sorry Belle."

"It's alright," Belle assured, "and you can trust me. I won't tell Rumple about this."

"Good," Emma mumbled, kicking off her boots and following Regina into the living room. "So, you found anything yet?"

"Perhaps," Regina said noncomittally. "We still have many books and documents to go through, but with Belle's help I'm certain we'll come up with a solution."

"For the record, I'd love to study some of these texts some other day as well, when we're not in such a hurry," Belle mentioned. "It's a fascinating collection you've got, Regina."

"Thank you, I'm glad you appreciate it," Regina said with a genuine smile. "You're of course welcome to them as much as you like."

Belle practically beamed, both her and Regina completely unaware of the odd stares they got from the third woman in the room. While Emma knew about Belle's and Regina's growing friendship, she hadn't known that they were _this_ friendly; Regina didn't give those kinds of smile to just anyone. Good thing Emma wasn't jealous or anything. Nope, none of that at all.

"Now, however, there is one thing we need before we can continue," Regina turned towards Emma with a predatory smirk.

"What? Uh, no." Emma shook her head emphatically, crossing her arms. "I'm not showing anything." She could've sworn Belle's sudden coughing fit was not as genuine as she tried to make it sound. "I'm not showing _that_."

"It's important that both me and Belle have all the facts about the spell," Regina said in a slitheringly silky tone, "so it would be best if she sees it in action, dear."

Emma took a few hurried steps back, but wasn't quick enough. With one foot still in the air, she felt a soft hand grip her own and her will to back away suddenly fizzled out. Logically, she knew that it had been there in her mind just moments ago, but it simply didn't feel important anymore.

"Good girl," Regina whispered quietly enough that only Emma heard it, sending a delicious shiver travelling down her spine.

It was a very odd feeling, to be only partially able to control her own will, Emma noted. She was fully capable of doing what she wanted _except_ for backing away from Regina or extracting her hand.

Shooting her gentle captor a spiteful look, she grumbled, "you're going to pay for this," but still followed her obediently to stand in front of Belle, who currently studied her like some kind of scientific experiment.

"So you touch her and she feels compelled to do what you want?" Belle asked.

"Not exactly. As long as I touch her, I can manipulate her feeling and urges. Technically, she doesn't _have_ to do anything, she simply _wants_ it more than anything else." Turning to Emma, she asked, "do you want to remove your scarf?"

"Hell no."

"Do you want to remove your hand and have your free will back?"

Emma looked momentarily perplexed, her feelings telling her one thing and her logic telling her something else completely. "...no. I don't. I should, right? But... I just want to hold your hand." She looked down at their joined hands in utter confusion. "It's weird. Really weird. It's like this presence is in my mind, filling different parts of it or whatever." Frowning, she chewed on her lip. "It feels kind of nice, actually."

Blinking, she looked back at Regina. "Hey! You– you made me do that!"

"Do what, dear?" Regina looked like the poster child of innocence.

"Made me say all that stuff right now. I think." She groaned, covering her face with her free hand. "This is giving me a headache."

"I didn't make you say anything that wasn't true though, did I?" Regina said, a little smugly.

Emma grunted, shoving her free hand back in her pocket. "We done yet?"

Regina's smile grew. "Not quite."

"I'm _not_–" She stopped midsentence, all defiance and irritation draining from her face. Then her hand came up to her neck, pulling off her scarf.

"Oh," Belle said, her eyebrows rising in surprise. "That's... not exactly what I expected. That's the symbol, right?" she asked, to which Regina nodded. "Why is she looking so... out of it, though?"

"Well, right now, all she wants to do is stand here and wait. A few minutes ago, I only took control of parts of her mind. My touch doesn't control her per se, I have to _take_ control of her mind. Either nothing, or a part of it as I did before, or take over her mind completely, like I'm doing now." Regina tilted her head slightly, her lips curving up into an amused smile. "It would be rather awkward if she turned into a zombie everytime I touched her."

Belle nodded, "that makes sense."

As Regina let go of Emma's hand, Emma could for that split second feel her mind coming back to her, to her own control. As much as she enjoyed having it back, she couldn't help but mourn the loss of that foreign presence in her mind. Everything was so warm and so easy. Wasn't this what some people strove for, a complete obliteration of wants and needs? Still, she was glad that she had her own mind back. _Mostly_.

"Regina," she growled, but Regina dismissed her with a wave of her hand.

"Like I said, dear, if you want the best chance to fix this, she needs to know everything I know." She raised an eyebrow at the dark stare Emma shot her way. "And wasn't it easier this way? None of that pesky thinking and worrying."

Emma wanted to physically wipe that smug smile off her face, but she did have a point. A very small point. She huffed, throwing herself down in a chair. "So what's the plan?"

Belle and Regina exchanged a quick look. "Now," Belle explained, "we try to find out what that mage did to undo the spell. And to do that, we'll first have to learn exactly how the spell works, what kinds of magic it uses and so on, so we can undo each individual part of the spell."

"Basically reverse-engineer the spell," Emma summarized, "and then? You'll make a new spell or a potion or a curse or what?"

"We're believe that the mage brewed some kind of liquid to pour over the artifact, so a potion should be sufficient. We wouldn't your True Love come strolling by, undoing all our hard work, would we?"

Emma snorted. "Yeah, can't have that. Anyway, if you don't need my help, I actually have some paperwork to finish."

The look Regina gave her was somewhere between I'm-having-a-stroke and please-have-my-babies.

"What? Don't give me that look. I do paperwork all the time. It's not _that_ weird."

"Of course not, dear."

"I'm just going to... yeah." She huffed and shoved her hands down her pockets, wandering off to the front door to get her paperwork.

* * *

After Emma's continued insistence they ordered pizza – she even got Regina to eat some – to save precious time before Henry would come home from his playdate with Ava and Nicholas. Emma, despite Regina's scrunched nose and snippy remarks, positioned herself on the floor, her papers sprawled out in front of her while Regina and Belle sat next to each other in the sofa, humming and oohing and whispering like they were the ones on the playdate.

"Yes, I think this will do," Belle mumbled, nodding to herself as she scanned the paper in front of her that she'd been scribbling on throughout the evening. "I think we're done."

Emma's head shot up, eyes and ears perked. "Really?"

Regina looked the paper over herself, nodding as well. "Yes, it should work. Might need a few minor adjustments, but these should be all the ingredients we'll need."

"And we'll be able to find everything? I mean, no cats' yawns or frogwings or anything like that?" Emma asked, feeling hope bubbling up inside.

"No, all the ingredients should be more or less easy to get ahold of. Why don't you read the list yourself, dear." Regina handed the paper over to Emma who started reading it directly.

Half-way through the list, Emma's face was scrunched up in confusion. When she finished it, her eyebrows were at her hairline and she couldn't help chuckling. "Funny."

"I fail to see what's amusing you, Miss Swan," Regina said, cocking an eyebrow.

Emma frowned at Regina's serious expression, eyes flitting over to Belle and meeting a similar expression on her face. "You're serious? About this?"

"We are."

"But..." Emma was at a loss for words. The list was insane. "I don't, I, what– I mean there– there has to be a better way than this?" She looked far more hopeful than she felt. "Right?"

"Well, since we are in a rather unusual situation, there may be another way," Regina mused, tapping a finger against the book in her lap. "But there's a reason to why we didn't mention it."

"Why?"

"Because it's worse than this one."

Emma laughed out loud at that preposterous statement. The list was beyond the concept of "bad", so how could anything be worse? "Yeah, sorry if I'm not convinced. I mean, really. Fairy dust? 'True Love'? Do I need to find a prince or what? And then–"

"The other alternative," Regina cut her off, "is Mr. Gold, me, the Blue Fairy using our magic on you while you're covered in fairy dust and your parents kiss, inside a crop circle at a full moon."

"What the– you're serious?"

"Of course not. That would be ridiculous," Regina huffed, rolling her eyes.

Emma breathed a sigh of relief.

"Obviously, _crop circles_ don't have any magical significance," Regina remarked as if it was common knowledge.

Emma blinked. "But the rest..."

"I was perfectly serious about the rest."

Belle cleared her throat as Emma buried her head in her hands and groaned. "Besides, the spell casting would take over an hour, all the while Rumple, Regina and Blue would have to touch you to make the spell work. And your parents would have to, um, continue to..."

"Please don't finish that sentence," Emma muttered. "Fine, I get it. Bad idea. But how are we going to get all this?"

Biting her lip not to smile, Regina knew she was enjoying the Savior's misadventures far too much, but she couldn't help it. "I'm afraid that you'll have to get the more... _exclusive_ items on that list by yourself. I doubt the fairies would give me any fairy dust, reformed or not. The Savior on the other hand might easily get what's needed."

Emma sighed. "What about Tink?"

"She isn't on all that good terms with the other fairies as far as I know."

"Fine, I'll figure something out." She looked through the list again. "And what's this 'dread hound powder'? I don't suppose you have some?"

Regina shook her head. "I believe Mr. Gold has some in his possession."

"And he'll give it to me just like that, no questions asked. Sure," Emma muttered dejectedly.

"I doubt he'll even give any to me without asking why," Belle noted. "That's why I suggested to Regina that you don't ask him."

"You know anyone else who's got it then?"

"No." Belle pursed her lips, her expression turning mischievous. "I'm saying you should steal it from him. Just a little bit, you won't need much. He never checks it anyway."

"I should steal it from him," Emma repeated, staring at Belle and Regina with wide, wild eyes. "You're insane. Both of you. Completely lost your minds." She let out a shrill laugh, bordering on hysterical. "But this is the best we've got, right? So, yeah, I'll bribe the nuns and rob Mr. Gold and find a prince, 'cause... yeah, whatever. I need a drink," she muttered, wandering off to the kitchen.

"She's taking this really well," Belle mumbled to Regina as the blonde left the room.

* * *

"Are you quite done sulking yet?" Regina asked after she'd said goodbye to Belle.

Emma looked up from the list with a pout. "I'm not sulking. _This_ is bullshit."

"I agree, despite the crass wording. Even so, as you said, it's what we've got." She sat down in the sofa next to Emma, smoothing out a few wrinkles on her skirt.

Grumbling, Emma lifted up her legs onto the end of the sofa and plopped her head down in Regina's lap. "I mean, this is _all_ bullshit. This, my magic, my parents, sneaking around Henry and everything."

Regina hummed her agreement, absentmindedly running her fingers through Emma's golden locks.

"We'll have to tell Henry about us soon. He's a smart kid, he's got to know something is different between us. And my parents will figure it out sooner or later."

"I don't think that's something we should discuss right now, Miss Swan," Regina said, her body stiffening slightly and her hand stopping its caressing.

Emma winced, wishing she hadn't brought it up. Even though Regina hadn't actually said anything, she knew Regina wasn't happy with how secretive they'd kept their growing relationship (although none of them would admit that it was any kind of relationship. They preferred the word "arrangement").

"Sorry, I... we'll talk about it after all this is done, okay?" Emma gave what she hoped was an appeasing smile.

"Okay," Regina mumbled, a smile of her own tugging on her lips and resumed stroking Emma's hair.

The silence that filled the room was comfortable and none of them made any effort to break it. They both knew that this wasn't even near anything they usually did when alone together, but it felt too good to point out and possibly disrupt the moment. So they sat quietly, both women trying to figure out what it all meant.

The front door opening and closing finally pulled them out of their thoughts. Emma quickly sat up, reluctantly leaving Regina's comfortable lap.

"That would be Henry," Regina mumbled, brushing off invisible dust from her skirt as she stood up, a little flustered from the oddly intimate moment.

"Yeah." Emma got up a little awkwardly. "I should, uh, probably go." They didn't do intimacy, really. Not this kind, this almost domestic kind. They flirted. They had _sex_. Really hot and often kinky sex. _This_ was completely new and she had no idea how to deal with it.

"Of course," Regina replied with an unconvincing smile.

After another awkward moment, Emma nodded, picking up her paperwork from the floor. Securing her scarf around her neck she walked out to the foyer to greet her son.

"Hi Ma," Henry said, a little surprised to see her. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey there, kid. Magic stuff, you know." It wasn't technically a lie, but it still didn't help her conscience much.

"Oh," he replied, frowning. "I guess that's good. That you're learning to control it, right?"

"Yeah, it's good." She made a mental note to actually have a real magic lesson next time she went over to Regina's. "Wouldn't help anyone if I couldn't control my magic." She shrugged on her jacket and the bag with all the paperwork before pulling on her boots.

When she straightened up again, Henry was looking at her with a puzzled expression.

"What's on your mind, kid?"

He tilted his head, squinting a little. "Are you wearing a collar?"

* * *

**Aaaand cliffhanger! As a treat for my lovely readers who've waited far too long for another chapter.**

**I made the description of the list deliberately vague so that I'd be able to add more required ingredients later on. I've got a few ideas, but suggestions would also be appreciated :)**

** ninabanana: I hope this chapter cleared up the confusion!**


End file.
